Editor’s Pick: Advanced material testing for leading additive manufacturing platform 

3D Systems has completed comprehensive testing for its newest Figure 4 materials against ASTM and ISO standards. Materials are at the core of 3D Systems’ digital manufacturing solutions; in late 2019, the company introduced a host of production-grade materials for its Figure 4 Platform.

When manufacturers have a complete set of data to properly screen materials for appropriateness of use, it allows moving on to longer term application testing of parts or components. For example, electrical life testing can take anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 hours (approximately 3 to 12 months) to complete including time on the testing equipment, operator time and time to market. 

Before a company makes such an investment, they want assurance that the selected material is appropriate for the application. Having the knowledge of a material’s dielectric properties per industry standards beforehand saves engineers needing to conduct several rounds of testing—at approximately two weeks per material—to find a candidate to pass initial dielectric properties before going into long-term life testing.

“Until this point, materials testing data provided by the industry has been incomplete for production applications and of little value to engineers accustomed to data that accompanies injection molded plastics,” says Marty Johnson, technical fellow, 3D Systems. “If an engineer is going to use any material for true production applications, they need a comprehensive set of data, which meets industry standards in order to evaluate its efficacy.”

Figure 4 PRO-BLK 10 indoor stability. Tested per ASTM D4329 standard method. Chart courtesy of 3D Systems.

Testing to ASTM and ISO standards allows 3D Systems to provide a broad set of manufacturers worldwide with the data they need to make best use of additive manufacturing in a true production workflow. 

3D Systems has completed testing for its newest Figure 4 materials designed for production applications: Figure 4 PRO-BLK 10, Figure 4 EGGSHELL-AMB 10, Figure 4 HI TEMP 300-AMB, Figure 4 FLEX-BLK 20, Figure 4 RUBBER-BLK 10, Figure 4 TOUGH-BLK 20, Figure 4 MED-AMB 10, and Figure 4 MED-WHT 10. The company says it has tested against an extensive set of properties that includes: long-term environmental stability, electrical data, UL94 flammability, biocompatibility, ISO mechanical properties, isotropic mechanical property tolerances and compatibility with automotive fluids and chemical reagents.

Figure 4 FLEX-BLK 20 outdoor stability. Tested per ASTM G154 standard method. Chart courtesy of 3D Systems.

3D Systems says these materials have properties that represent improvements in first-time print yield, heat deflection, UV stability, durability, flexibility and impact strength, while also enabling new biocompatible and direct digital production workflows. The company adds that these materials complement the company’s entire portfolio, which when combined with 3D Systems’ 3D printing technology, software and services enabled its customers to create nearly 200 million production parts in 2019 alone.

Test data for all materials went live this week on the respective Figure 4 materials pages below. Want to learn more? Join 3D Systems at a live webinar on April 16 at 10:30 a.m. EDT. Learn more and register here. 

For a video pertaining to the Figure 4 PRO-BLK 10, click here.

For a video pertaining to the Figure 4 EGGSHELL-AMB 10, click here.

For a video pertaining to the Figure 4 HI TEMP 300-AMB, click here.

For a video pertaining to the Figure 4 FLEX-BLK 20, click here.

For a video pertaining to the Figure 4 RUBBER-BLK 10, click here.

For a video pertaining to the Figure 4 TOUGH-BLK 20, click here.

For a video pertaining to the Figure 4 MED-AMB 10, click here. 

For a video pertaining to the Figure 4 MED-WHT 10, click here.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.